David Cameron’s razor-thin win in the UK elections means he’s had to promise a new referendum on EU membership. If the UK were to leave the EU, it may trigger Scottish secession and a major shift in the EU balance of power...

At his new blog, Ben Bernanke is coming up with new excuses as to why the current recovery is so weak and why mega-low interest rates — and thus a lack of options for middle-income savers seeking interest income — aren't his fault...

Brazil's government has long been devoted to the idea that more government spending will create more economic prosperity. For a time, it seemed to work, but now reality and disillusionment have set in.

When a central bank devalues a currency, it is often said that the devaluation will help exporters, and thus the whole country, as a result. But this simplistic analysis ignores the many downsides of inflating the currency.

States could attract more businesses and jobs by lowering taxes and making government smaller. But since governments hate cutting taxes and regulations, they instead choose to lure new firms with temporary tax breaks and special favors.

The work of economist Anders Chydenius, which predates Smith’s The Wealth of Nations , provided a radically free-market voice for Scandinavia in the 18th century as Chydenius battled against mercantilists and those who thought government well-suited to plan economies with laws and edicts...

To his last, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk defended reason and the logic of the market against the emotional appeals and faulty reasoning of those who wished to use power and the government to acquire from others what they could not obtain through free competition.

The Fed and it's friends blamed cold weather for much of the year's lackluster economic growth. But cold weather does not explain the economic slowdown because cold weather does not stop economic activity, it merely shifts it to other activities and products...

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The Mises Daily articles are short and relevant and written from the perspective of an unfettered free market and Austrian economics. Written for a broad audience of laymen and students, the Mises Daily features a wide variety of topics including everything from the history of the state, to international trade, to drug prohibition, and business cycles.